A 'Safe Space' poster was put up at Central Magnet School to address bullying, according to a teacher.

Written by

Scott Broden | Gannett Tennessee and Bob Smietana | The Tennessean

MURFREESBORO — At least one Central Magnet School parent agrees with the American Civil Liberties Union in urging school district officials to allow Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network “Safe Space” posters to return to classroom walls.

“It’s important that our young people learn to live together among our differences,” said Jeff Clark, who is an active parent at the school in addition to being a business professor at Middle Tennessee State University and a Cumberland Presbyterian Church pastor.

The ACLU of Tennessee and the national ACLU on Thursday called on the Rutherford County School Board to restore the posters, saying that taking them down violates students’ free speech rights.

Need disputed

Board Chairman Terry Hodge and district spokesman James Evans referred calls on the matter to Jeff Reed, the school board’s attorney. Reed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I’m not sure why a poster would be put up, because our schools are safe for all students,” school board Vice Chairman Wayne Blair said. “We already have a policy to maintain our schools as safe.”

Tom Castelli, legal director for the ACLU-TN, said the poster had first been displayed last school year without incident.

Several parents, students and teachers called to complain about the posters being removed recently, he said.

He said other student groups are allowed to put up posters, so the school’s Gay Straight Alliance should be allowed to do the same. “We are treating this as a free speech issue,” he said.

Castelli said a school can ban obscene content, but the posters don’t fit that category.

“We disagree that those words are in any shape, way or form sexually explicit,” he said.

ACLU attorneys sent a letter to Rutherford County school officials Thursday, asking for the posters to be put back on display.

Bullying concern

Allen Nichols, Central Magnet School social studies and history teacher, said in a statement that the posters were meant to address bullying. He said he hung the poster up — at students’ request — to send a message that his classroom would be safe from bullying.

Clark said bullying over LGBT issues is a serious concern.

“We know that parents have watched in horror the television news reports of teen suicides not on the other side of the country but right here in Middle Tennessee as a result of bullying,” he said.

The posters are part of a “Safe Space” kit that GLSEN has sent to about 40,000 schools nationwide, said Andy Marra, the group’s public relations manager. Each kit contains two posters.

Marra said a GLSEN survey from 2011 found that many gay, straight, lesbian, and transgendered students feel unsafe in Tennessee schools. According to the survey, 88 percent said they had been verbally harassed and 43 percent said they had been physically harassed.

“We want to make sure that students are safe at school, no matter who they are,” she said. “We know that LGBT kids do not feel safe at Tennessee schools.”